Norton published Indian findings from a global study examining consumers’ online creeping behaviours ahead of romantic Valentine’s Day, throws light on the dark side of dating. It also highlights how online dating/romance scams have proven to be a costly threat to majority of Indians, with nearly three out of four (74%) of victims suffering financial losses from these types of scams. The Norton study was conducted online in partnership with The Harris Poll and involved 1,000 Indian adults aged 18+.
The survey findings reveal that 79% of Indian adults who have used a dating website/app admit to taking some kind of action after matching with a potential partner online, including looking up their social media profile(s) (49%) looking up their profile on a professional networking site (32%) looking up their friends or family on social media (27%) typing their name into a search engine (26%) or paying to run a background check on them (22%).
“People seeking connection and romantic relationships online often get tricked into dating scams.” says Ritesh Chopra, Director Sales and Field Marketing, India & SAARC Countries, Gen. “In our latest Norton report, we discovered external information outside of the dating app can often cut interaction with a potential match short, with many online daters uncovering their love interest has been spinning a tale of lies and deception. It is important to be cautious about sharing private information and be wary of potential scammers pretending to be looking for love.”
According to the study by Norton, 76% of adults in India have used a dating app say they have cut their interaction short by unmatching or declining a date with someone on a dating app after uncovering unsettling information about them. Common reasons for doing so include finding pictures of them online that were disturbing (32%) finding out the person lied about their personal details (25%), finding pictures of them online that did not align with their dating profile pictures (24%), finding social media posts that were disturbing (24%), or because they found the person’s job title (20%).
About the 2023 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report: Special Release – Online Creeping
The 2023 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report: Online Creeping, conducted online in partnership with The Harris Poll, surveyed 8,022 adults ages 18+ across 8 countries1, including 1,000 Indian adults. The survey was conducted November 29 – December 19, 2022. Data are weighted where necessary by age, gender, region, and education to bring them in line with their actual proportions among those who are online.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within + 4.3 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest.
All sample surveys and polls, whether they use probability sampling, are subject to other multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including, but not limited to coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments.
